Abstract
SummaryMore than 140 abstracts were presented in the Central Nervous System Tumors track during the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) virtual meeting. Here, we review our personal highlights of the presented data. In rare entities such as papillary craniopharyngioma and neurotrophic tyrocine receptor kinase (NTRK)-fusion-positive tumors, promising data on targeted therapies were reported. In addition, early data on olaparib in high-grade glioma and combinational immunotherapy approaches will be briefly reviewed. Furthermore, the eagerly awaited results of the EORTC-1709 phase III trial on the pan-proteasome inhibitor marizomib in newly diagnosed glioblastoma were shown at the meeting. Although no practice-changing trials were presented for glioma patients, new treatments are on the horizon and results from modern platform trials are awaited in the near future.
Highlights
Preclinical data suggested that poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibition reduces tumor growth via suppression of the homologous recombination DNA repair pathway [5]
Patients aged > 60 had better overall survival with standard-dose as compared to low-dose bevacizumab, suggesting that age may influence on the efficacy of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/anti-PD-1 combination therapies in brain tumors
Another phase I study analyzed the impact of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) inhibitors ivosidenib and vorasidenib on epigenetic, transcriptomic and tissue immune markers in IDH-mutated glioma [13]
Summary
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase Glioblastoma multiforme Isocitrate dehydrogenase Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase Mammalian target of rapamycin Neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase Overall survival Poly-ADP-ribose polymerase Programmed death receptor (ligand) 1 Progression-free survival Temozolomide Vascular endothelial growth factor. The presented data showed that larotrectinib is feasible and safe in the specific (but small) subgroup of NTRK-fusion-positive CNS tumors. Preclinical data suggested that poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibition reduces tumor growth via suppression of the homologous recombination DNA repair pathway [5]. Based on these observations, a phase II trial in recurrent high-grade IDH-mutant gliomas after radiotherapy and at least one line of alkylating chemotherapy was performed [6]. At a median follow-up of 11 months, olaparib treatment was discontinued in 30/35 (85.7%) patients due to tumor progression, suggesting limited antitumoral activity
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